Hi.

Any advice on completing Form H for First Appointment when self repping. I can do solicitor costs for the start (before he became too expencsive), but do I need to include any costs for the time since I've been doing it all myself?

Thanks

Hi Angelanna,

Yes you can include all those costs for yourself such as photocopying, paper, travel to the court and your time.

There was a thread a while ago about this, 'Self-reppers H1 Form' I am sorry I can't post the ref to it but below is an extract that may be of use:


I believe the figure is £9.50 per hour now but the reference comes from the Bar Council:

Guidance Note - Recovery of costs in Non-Solicitor Cases


13. CPR 48.6 permits the recovery of:-
a. Court fees.
b. Fees paid to a barrister for advocacy, drafting and advisory work.
c. Administrative outlay on such things as couriers, photocopying and document preparation -- probably12.
d. Provision of expert advice. This may include a tax expert discussing issues with counsel, and assisting with the preparation of a skeleton argument; but the dividing line between legal services (irrecoverable) and expert advice (recoverable) is, said the Court of Appeal, "a matter of some difficulty"13.
e. Other disbursements which "would normally have been made by a legal representative" (i.e. solicitor or other authorised litigator), if there had been one.
f. The fees of a costs draughtsman.
g. An amount which is normally calculated at a presceribed hourly rate, currently £9.25 per hour, for time spent by a litigant in person on case preparation including any work which might properly be charged for by a solicitor. This is subject to a ceiling of two-thirds of the amount which would have been allowed to a solicitor for doing such work14

12] In Agassi v Robinson ( [2005] EWCA Civ 1507, The Times December 22nd, 2005 ) the judgment reads at paragraph 65: "... we believe that [counsel for the Revenue and Law Society] might accept that some items in Tenons bill (e.g. such as the cost of couriers, telephone and fax and court filing fees) are "expenses" within the meaning of section 1 of the Litigant in Person (Costs and Expenses) Act 1975".
13] Agassi paragraph 76-77
14] CPR 48.6(2).

I hope the above is of use.

YA

Thank you. That's great help.

I assume i put my costs in the 'all counsels fees' section.